August is moving right along and the biggest thing this week is singles! One of the Blerd favorites, Kenna, releases a new one entitled “Relations” which we’re all dying to hear but that’s not all! The biggest release this week is actually from two people who weren’t supposed to have releases this week. Due to some leaks both Katy Perry and Lady Gaga went ahead and released their upcoming singles early. Do you like to “Roar” or give “Applause” more? Team […]

What, Lady Gaga getting naked in a promotional video for some new agey mind and body exercise wasn’t enough for you? FINE. Here’s here new single, rushed to radio following a rash of leaks over the weekend. “Applause” is the first single from Gaga’s forthcoming ARTPOP album, due November 11th. “Applause” is unfortunately more of the same from Gaga, and could just as easily be a leftover from 2011’s enjoyable but tepid Born This Way. Like that LP, “Applause” is a competent but fairly by-the-numbers dance […]

Blame the incredibly long shadow of “Weird Al” Yankovic or the crop of so many dime-a-dozen parodists dropping quickly-crafted goofs on YouTube, but it always feels that The Lonely Island are criminally underrated. Sure, the trio of writer/actors Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccome and Akiva Schaeffer have earned plenty of acclaim for their daffy song satire, thanks to their beloved Digital Shorts on Saturday Night Live , where Samberg acted and Taccome wrote for several years. Some of these clips, including the ’90s R&B pastiche “ Dick in a Box ” […]

As you may or may not know, writing for Popblerd is merely what I do during the day; at night, I dive headfirst into the glamorous world of karaoke, where I make my money congenially badgering people into singing in front of strangers. (I also do the “Cupid Shuffle”, like, a lot. It’s a dance comprised of four simple steps, which really speaks to my whiteness dancing abilities.) But the simple fact remains that, while karaoke has gained a lot […]

The conundrum of Nicki Minaj – not Icki Garbaj, pithy Internet detractors – is a curious one indeed. At this point, she’s as inescapable a presence on the pop landscape as any of her peers, so much so that it’s hard to believe that Kanye’s apocalyptic posse cut “Monster” – wherein she contributed an energetic, schizophrenic, scene-stealing verse – was less than two years ago. In the interim, Nicki has hit big-time as both a solo artist and an in-demand […]

Regardless of one’s feelings about The Ting Tings – day-glo pop masterminds or mere dancefloor diversions – they’d doubtlessly be a surprising addition to the canon of 2000s artists granted pop longevity. Their debut record, We Started Nothing, was a dance-rock jackpot, spilling out a startling amount of durable singles like a generous Atlantic City slot machine; but it, as a record, never offered anything below the heavily stylized surface. Not that all music needs to, mind you – it’s just […]

Two days before 2011 became 2012, several of us threw out predictions that we think will happen in the pop culture world for 2012. Some of them are silly. Some are serious. Some may even happen. I give to you, predictions for 2012 by members of the Popblerd staff. Mike A. The eight-track tape will make a comeback. Hipsters, bored with vinyl now that it has begun to make a “mainstream” revival, look to a long lost relic of the […]